U.S.
and foreign companies with foreign subsidiaries and offices use L-1 (intracompany
transferee) visas to bring executives, managers, and foreign employees
with specialized knowledge to the U.S. temporarily. The
L-1 visa is used by U.S. companies and foreign-owned U.S. subsidiaries
to address shortages of highly skilled employees and to achieve better
control of foreign subsidiaries and U.S. offices by establishing an employee
from the foreign subsidiary or office in the United States home office
or foreign-owned subsidiary. To
qualify, the foreign employee must be coming to the U.S. in an executive,
managerial, or specialized knowledge capacity after having worked abroad
for the U.S. company for one year within the preceding three years. Individual
petitions for the L-1 visa may be granted by the Immigration and Naturalization
Service for a period of three years, with a possible two-year extension
for all "L" visaholders, and an additional two years for executives and
managers. When a foreign employee, who was originally admitted to the U.S.
in a "specialized knowledge" capacity is promoted to a managerial or executive
position, the person must have been in the latter position for at least
six months to qualify for a seven-year stay. Dependent spouses and
children are entitled to "L-2" visas if they are coming to join the principal
"L" visaholder.

Define your terms

Federal
regulatory definitions of terms become critically important in petitioning
for the "L" visa on behalf of a foreign employee. For
example, "executive capacity" is defined a directing the management of
the organization or a major component or function of the organization,
establishing goals and policies for the organization, exercising wide latitude
in discretionary decision-making, and receiving only general supervision
or direction from higher levels. The
term "managerial capacity" is defined as managing the organization, department,
subdivision, function, or component of the organization, supervising and
controlling the work of other supervisory, professional, or managerial
employees, or managing an essential function within the organization. The
manager must have the capacity to hire and fire or to recommend such personnel
actions if he has direct supervision. If he does not supervise employees
directly, he must function at a senior level within the organization or
with respect to the function he manages. He must also exercise discretion
over the day-to-day operations in his area. A first-line supervisor might
not be deemed to be acting in a managerial capacity if he does not have
supervisory authority over other professional employees. A
foreign employee may also come to the U.S. on the basis that he possesses
"specialized knowledge." This is defined as "special knowledge ... of the
petitioning organization's product, service, research, equipment, techniques,
management, or other interests and its application in international markets,
or an advanced level of knowledge or expertise in the organization's processes
and procedures."

Blanket 'L' visa
petitions

Blanket
petitions provide U.S. companies with the opportunity to bring additional
employees into the U.S. by applying directly with U.S. consular offices
abroad without the approval of the Immigration and Naturalization Service
of an individual petition. Blanket petitions must certify that the company
is engaged in commercial trade or services, has an office in the U.S. and
has been doing business for one year or more, has three or more domestic
and foreign branches, subsidiaries, or affiliates, and has obtained approval
of petitions for at least 10 "L" visa managers, executives, or specialized
knowledge professionals during the previous 12 months, or have U.S. affiliates
or subsidiaries with combined annual sales of at least $25 million, or
have a U.S. workforce of at least 1,000. The
blanket petition is very helpful to our larger multinational clients who
are well-known to the U.S. Consul-General in their home countries, and
it minimizes processing for visa numbers above 10 L-1 visas. The
"L" visa sometimes leads to a "green card" (permanent resident status).
And there is a presumption created by multinational executive status that
can speed up the process of receiving approval for a first preference employment-based
petition for a "green card."

Boyd
F. Campbell is a member of the American
Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). He has practiced private
international law and immigration and nationality law in Montgomery, Alabama,
since 1988. He served as Chair of the Immigration Law Committee of
the American Bar Association's (ABA) General Practice, Solo & Small
Firm Lawyers Section and as Co-Chair of the Immigration Law Committee of
the ABA's Section of Labor and Employment Law. He was a member of
the ABA's Coordinating Committee on Immigration Law from 1994 to 1998.
He was also Vice-Chair of a task force that created a new International
Law Section for the Alabama State Bar and served as Chair of that Section
from 2000 to 2002. He was appointed by the Alabama Secretary of State
as Alabama's first practicing civil law notary in 2001. For more
information about Mr. Campbell, CLICK HERE.

Questions or comments
about this article may be directed to:Immigration
Law Center, L.L.C.P.O. Box 11032Montgomery, Alabama 36111-0032
U.S.A.